


Null and Void

by TheHomestuckWhovian



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Magic, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-12-01 20:16:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20887259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHomestuckWhovian/pseuds/TheHomestuckWhovian
Summary: When a powerful enemy begins to make moves on Paris, Adrien and his mentor, Master Fu, begin to investigate in order to take him down. But Adrien soon finds himself crossing paths with Marinette, an old friend who is strangely cold and angry, and he has no idea why. With secrets and lies on both sides and a world of magic that Adrien must keep from her at all costs, is there any hope of them fixing this broken relationship? And will Adrien be able to stop his most dangerous foe yet?





	Null and Void

**Author's Note:**

> This is me doing my crazy fantasy AU that I have to do for every fandom I'm a part of. Enjoy this wild ride.
> 
> [Tumblr link](https://boopboopitydoop.tumblr.com/post/188143616577/null-and-void-chapter-1)

Adrien took a deep breath as he entered the familiar shop, and his nose was filled with the smell of tea and magic, a relaxing scent that helped calm his nerves whenever he snuck out from under Father’s nose to his apprenticeship here.

It would annoy Father to no end, Adrien thought to himself as he sat in his usual place at the table, that of all the tutors in material magic that he had shoved in his son’s direction, of all the distinguished magical users that he had encouraged his only child to apprentice with, Adrien chose to be the pupil of an old masseuse whose affinity didn’t even match his own.

There was no way Father would take it well, which both made it more exhilarating and utterly terrifying. But Adrien was getting utterly sick of dealing with Father, who hadn’t been a very good parent since Mom...

He took a deep breath, and waited as Master Fu escorted his last customer of the day out of the shop, before coming to sit by Adrien.

“How are you doing on your spellwork?” Master Fu asked, heading over to the stove to grab his kettle.

Adrien winced, remembering the difficult part of his apprenticeship: the actual spellwork. “Not great. I can summon Trixx’s power to create minor illusions, but summoning Trixx was nearly impossible.”

“I understand.” Master Fu placed the now full kettle on the stove and turned it on, before preparing the mugs for tea. “We are working with a handicap in your training, after all, and this is your first time attempting to summon a kwami not associated with the material world, where your affinity lies. It makes sense that you would struggle. Still, being able to wield Trixx’s power at all despite that is impressive. You should be proud of your progress.”

That was a thing Adrien liked about Master Fu. He never got upset when Adrien tried and failed, just assured him that failure was a part of life and congratulated him on what he got right. Gabriel Agreste, on the other hand, had no room for failure in his house, and he made that clear when Adrien did anything, from piano, to modeling, to magic.

It wasn’t a perfect match, obviously, but the circumstances had made it necessary. Master Fu was the only Summoner in Europe currently, and while Adrien was a Maker, he had proven talented enough in summoning spells for Master Fu to decide to teach him in an attempt to pass on the knowledge as he grew older.

“Would you like to invite Plagg and Tikki to join us?” Master Fu asked, just as the kettle began to whistle. “There is something I need to discuss, which will require them too.” 

Adrien nodded, closing his eyes and muttering the words under his breath, imagining taking a pad of paper and ripping it to shreds, imagining sitting at a piano and playing an all new melody.

In two flashes of light, a tiny gluttonous ball of black fuzz dove for the drawer that kept his Camembert, while a small, vaguely ladybug-styled Tikki shook her head at the sight.

“Plagg, aren’t you at least going to greet them first?” Tikki asked, looking exasperated.

“They already know me, they don’t care!” Plagg answered, phasing out of the door with his tiny little armfuls of smelly cheese that made Adrien’s nose scrunch up.

Tikki groaned, before giving Fu and Adrien a slightly embarrassed smile. “Hello, it’s wonderful to see you two again. Do you need us for anything?”

“Master Fu said there’s something we need to talk about,” Adrien filled in as Fu approached, taking a seat opposite of Adrien and setting down two mugs of tea and a chocolate chip cookie for Tikki.

“So what’s up then?” Plagg asked, zipping over to sit on Adrien’s shoulder, pushing the scent of Camembert even farther up Adrien’s nose. It was disgusting, but Adrien otherwise enjoyed Plagg’s company usually, so he bit back a disgusted groan and allowed it.

Master Fu looked around cautiously, his sharp gaze investigating every corner of the room before turning back to his guests. “Tikki, Plagg, I’m sure you’ve felt the disturbance with Nooroo.”

Tikki nodded a grimace on her face. “Yes. Something unwelcome invoked his power, but Nooroo didn’t recognize the spell. We’ve all been worried about it though, since they drew a lot of power without summoning Nooroo. Someone is planning something big.”

“Yeah, it was creepy,” Plagg noted. “And I’ve been getting some bad vibes since then. I’m betting that, whoever cast a high level summoning spell on Nooroo, they are connected to it.”

Adrien nodded in understanding. While he had never met Nooroo or tried a summoning spell for him, he knew Nooroo’s magic was often invoked in summoning spells used by Muses or, on the rare occasion of one being around, Melders. Nooroo’s magic was good for inspiration and empowering others, though the negative potential of his magic was not to be taken lightly.

Summoning spells were hard, and the most people without affinity for them could usually do was draw a little power from a kwami connected to their affinity to boost their spells. Drawing a lot of power was hard enough, but if Nooroo didn’t recognize the spell, that meant someone was spell crafting something new. And Plagg wasn’t just associated with destruction, but also misfortune. If he was getting bad vibes, that was a guarantee that something terrible was going to happen.

“That’s what Wayzz and I were afraid of,” Master Fu noted, shaking his head sadly. “We will have to investigate. An Awakened out there is plotting something, and drawing power from Nooroo means that they intend to act soon. We must do our best to track them down, preferably before they can strike.”

“I can do some looking around,” Adrien volunteered. “A power spike that big would probably need to be hidden by some heavy duty wards. I’ll look around the area and see if I can find any.”

Master Fu nodded. “Excellent idea, Adrien. Plagg, I trust you’ll stay with him?”

Plagg nodded, his mouth full of cheese.

“Good. I will speak with Nooroo and the others, to see if they have some information that could be valuable. We must be quick. Who knows when the threat will make his move.”

* * *

For a moment, Adrien considered stepping inside.

He recognized the glass windows, the gold lettering, the couple inside bustling about to serve customers, a little older, but still there.

Even after everything in his life had been thrown into chaos that terrible morning six years ago, Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain were still in that bakery, still serving customers with smiles as warm as freshly baked bread.

He couldn’t remember the first time he ever stepped into that bakery, but he could remember the last. That last visit, without the knowledge that he wouldn’t return the next week like promised. And for years, he missed it, missed going and eating pastries and and...

For a moment, he considered stepping inside.

And then he stopped considering it to actually follow through with it, walking up to the doors and opening them, listening to that familiar bell’s chime ring in his ears for the first time in years.

“Hello!” Sabine greeted, her eyes looking down at the register for a moment. “Welcome to...” Her words slowed to a halt as she looked up and saw him, and she gasped with shock at the sight. “Adrien!”

“Hello, Madame Cheng,” Adrien greeted, a nervous smile on his face, and before he knew it, he was wrapped in a hug by a giant, burly man, who was no less strong even as his mustache and hair were threaded with gray hairs.

It was a hectic few moments, as Sabine and Tom rushed to put up the Be Back Soon sign up and hurried him up stairs, placing a plate and a mug of tea in front of him after setting him on the couch. It was a rush of energetic excitement that the couple shared, fueling them and each other and their business for as long as Adrien could remember, and none of that energy had diminished over the years. That same energy had increased exponentially through their daughter, who had always moved too fast for her feet to catch up, her thoughts and words rushing out like a swift, powerful river, and Adrien couldn’t help but wonder if maybe, just maybe he’d run into her.

“You’ve gotten so skinny over the years,” Tom remarked, shaking his head. “They don’t feed models well enough, do they?”

Adrien laughed. “Yeah, Father was pretty set on enforcing my diet once I was old enough for my career to pick up.” He took a croissant from the plate and bit into it, and memories overwhelmed his taste buds.

“That must not have been good for you magic usage,” Sabine remarked, shaking his head. “How are you magic studies anyway?”

“I’ve...I’ve actually been apprenticed to someone for the last four years,” he admitted, and Sabine clapped her hands with delight.

“That’s good! I was afraid your father would never let you out of that house to be taught by a master.”

“He...uh...he doesn’t actually know,” Adrien admitted, and the expressions of the couple shifted to shock. “Uh...he wouldn’t be happy with me learning from someone he didn’t personally pick, so I...I didn’t tell him.” Not to mention that it was a Summoner teaching him instead of a Maker.

Wanting to change the subject, he asked, “So...how’s Marinette?”

Sabine and Tom’s faces fell, and Adrien was surprised by how the boundless energy seemed to die, replaced with exhaustion and worry.

“We...she hasn’t contacted us since she left for university,” Sabine explained, her voice sad. “We haven’t heard from her since she moved out.”

Adrien’s face fell, his hopes of seeing his old friend dashed. “Oh...do you know why?”

Tom sighed. “It...it’s been a long time coming, I’m afraid.”

“She’d been pulling away from us for years,” Sabine explained, shaking her head. “Talking to her grew...difficult, after you stopped coming by.” After that terrible morning. “She stopped talking to us when things troubled her, and she stopped telling us of her accomplishments. She graduated the top of her class, and we didn’t even know until the day of graduation. Even still...we had hoped that she wouldn’t...that she wouldn’t completely cut us out once she left.”

He couldn’t understand it. The Marinette he remembered was always open and honest, and she and her parents had been incredibly close. He remembered how jealous he had felt of her, how she got two incredible, attentive parents, and his dad rarely even acknowledged his existence. How...how could Marinette just stop talking to them.

“I’m...I’m sorry.”

Sabine smiled sadly. “It’s not your fault, Adrien. Sometimes, people grow apart. Even parents and their children. It is a part of life, even if it hurts. Tom and I...we will always love Marinette, and we will always be there if she needs us, but we can’t force her come to us. If she chooses to approach us willingly, then we will welcome her with open arms. But for now...for now, we have to respect that she doesn’t want us around.” There was a resignation in her voice that he didn’t like, and he wished he could fix this.

But what could he do? He hadn’t talked to Marinette in years. How hypocritical would it be of him to tell her she was wrong for the very thing he had done?

The rest of their lunch had a somber tone over it, as the three of them ate together and talked about little things that didn’t matter. The energy never reached the level he had felt when he had entered, and he mourned its loss as he eventually waved goodbye and continued his walk around the city.

“Well that was boring,” Plagg remarked from inside his shirt, and Adrien sighed with exasperation. “You didn’t even get me a cheese pastry. Rude.”

“Shut up.”

* * *

Xavier Ramier was having a bad day.

It seemed the bad days were growing more and more common. He felt more and more overworked with every passing day, his insomnia had gotten to the point where he rarely got more than a couple of hours of sleep at night, and every time he thought he was finally going to get the promotion he had been waiting for, having spent years overqualified for his position, strung along by a boss who would always pick someone else, he was passed over.

Xavier had always thought about someday settling down, getting married, adopting a child. Adoption of course, because he had always had empathy for those forgotten or ignored by the rest of the world. Why bring another child into this world when he could give one who already lived a chance to have a better life?

(He wouldn’t adopt now, though. He looked at his terrible apartment and terrible job and terrible life skills and he couldn’t even think about taking care of a child when his life was falling to pieces around him.)

Instead though, he was alone, too busy and too tired to put himself out there for a relationship, too busy and too much of a mess to adopt a child or even a pet.

Xavier Ramier was having a bad _life_.

And yet, one of the few moments of joy in his life was something small and seemingly meaningless. It was those moments during his lunch break where he went to the park, with his bag of birdseed and his bird call, and he would feed the birds.

It was mostly pigeons, though the occasional crow found its way to him. He liked the crows, liked the way they would recognize him on the street and occasionally bring small, shiny things that fascinated them as a present, but he especially liked the pigeons.

It was one small thing he could do, a little way to make the world brighter for the creatures that many ignored or looked down upon in this city. It was him being useful, it was him being able to help the lives of other creatures even when it felt like his own was close to falling apart.

It was a day like any other, and he had just gone on his lunch break. He walked down the street, waving to the young woman that he had seen in the park a few times, who he had once gotten into a conversation with over interesting features of the birds he liked so much. She smiled at him as kindly as ever and waved back, before turning her attention back to her sketchbook. 

He hoped that her dreams were going better than his were. Even on his worst days, he wouldn’t wish his suffering on his worst enemy.

A dark car pulled up on the street beside him, and the door opened to show a woman, a little younger than him, but definitely older than the girl he had just passed.

“Xavier Ramier,” she greeted, and there was something about her voice and expression that seemed off. “Monsieur Hawk Moth would like to meet with you.”

He wanted to ask who she was talking about, but his exhaustion began to catch up with him, making his tongue feel heavy and his body feel slow and boneless as the woman grabbed his arm and pulled him into the car. He felt like he should be concerned, but he just felt so tired as he was pushed into his seat.

“Hello, Xavier,” a deep, slightly rasping voice spoke, and Xavier’s eyelids struggled to stay open. “I would like to propose a business deal.” The voice was oddly relaxing, and Xavier’s head struggled to stay upright as the woman slid in to the seat beside him stiffly and closed the door, leaving them all in the dark. “But first, I will need to take steps to ensure your cooperation.” A hand began to grip his forehead, and it was hard to think about anything except how tired he was.

“_Sleep_,” the deep voice commanded, and Xavier complied.

* * *

Adrien could feel a sudden spike of strange magic in the distance, and he broke into a run, ignoring the strange looks of the people on the street as he ran. He could feel the source moving away from him, and maybe if he ran fast enough, maybe maybe-

There was a surprised squeak as he ran directly into someone, sending himself, his innocent victim, and all of her belongings to the ground.

The source of the magic faded into the distance, and Adrien cursed himself for being too late.

“My pencil case!” the girl he had rammed right into cried, and Adrien winced as he saw all the scattered items on the ground, pens and pencils and erasers and colors and a pouch that had carried all of them and a sketchbook that was not looking its best. He and the girl moved, quickly scooping up all the different drawing supplies as Adrien mumbled apologies.

After all the supplies were in the pouch, Adrien reached to pick up the sketchbook, but the girl had the same idea, and the two bumped heads as they both leaned forward to grab it, letting out twin exclamations of pain.

Maybe bringing Plagg with him was a bad idea. This kind of bad luck was the worst.

He looked up at the girl just as she looked up at him, and green eyes met blue as, for the first time in years, he was face-to-face with Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“...Marinette,” he whispered, staring at the girl with wide eyes.

Her expression shifted to shock, before falling to something...cold. Bitter.

“Thanks for the help,” she said, scooping up her now-full pouch and her sketchbook before standing, turning to walk away. “Have a nice day.”

“Wait,” Adrien began, moving to his feet. “Marinette, I-”

She looked back at him, and he was taken aback by the anger in her expression.

“Don’t,” she said firmly. “You’ve been out of my life for years, Adrien. Stay out.” With that, she turned and walked away, leaving him standing in the street, staring after her until she disappeared into a crowd of people.

What...what could have...

What could have happened to Marinette for her to look at him so coldly?


End file.
